Spurring Youths to Be Entrepreneurs

September 2, 2019

In order for entrepreneurs to get funding they need to develop their startups, they have to understand what investors think of beforehand. What kind of decision-making process and factor they should take into account before investing their money in a startup?

As a global business executive and investor, Bernard van Bunnik has the answers. “From my perspective, we investors must ask tough questions. Investors are less likely to invest in one entrepreneur with a single business idea,” he said in front of freshmen during his General Lecture titled “Perspectives on Careers and Entrepreneurship” at Student Orientation Week 2019, at Sampoerna University campus, on Monday (August 26, 2019).

He added further that investors in general tend to invest in startups that have already had some seed funding, a solid team, vast business networks, and in-depth industry experience. Entrepreneurs must know in details what is happening in their market and respective industry.

In his response to a question from a freshmen at Student Orientation 2019, Bunnik mentioned some characters of winning startup founders. One of them is boldness. “Founders must be bold enough to acknowledge what they are good at and what they’re not really good at so they can get help from others in aspects they’re not good at,” said the Dutch investor who is an alumnus of the Graduate Program of Business Administration at INSEAD.

His experience spans for almost two decades. He worked for McKinsey & Company in 4 different countries for 5 years. On top of that, he worked with General Electric Capital for 19 years across Asia, Australia, the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United States. (*/)